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It's subtle, but you're actually picking out a major problem with modern trends in some corners of software development: there is this idea that the users' needs are almost a complete afterthought. This idea is becoming a bit ubiquitous if you look around (Windows 8, etc.). It's completely backwards, however.

If you are insinuating that GNOME3 do not meet the needs of its user base, then I disagree. Since it is still one of the largest DE's for Linux, I think we can just dismiss it as untrue as well.
And I hardly believe that GNOME or Microsoft did not consider user's needs. They did have two new UI concepts they wanted to try. For GNOME it seems to have been mostly a success. For Microsoft it might have been worse, but I am really not up to date with that at all.

plowing ahead

I'm excited for both Gnome and Wayland.
I hate the fact that Gnome is heavily dependent on web technologies, which makes it slower, but Gnome Shell is so far the most usable and productive desktop environment, especially when you consider the amount of plugins available for it and the ease of install/uninstall of those plugins.

I'm excited for both Gnome and Wayland.
I hate the fact that Gnome is heavily dependent on web technologies, which makes it slower, but Gnome Shell is so far the most usable and productive desktop environment, especially when you consider the amount of plugins available for it and the ease of install/uninstall of those plugins.

Once Gnome gets fully Ported to Wayland we need to Start Porting Unity to Wayland

Or better just forget about Unity and use the resources to make Wayland even better, by porting existing apps to Wayland for example. Let's see if Mir and Canonical alone will be able to catch up with the rest of the world. I would really admire them if they manage to do so.

giving up being right

Right now it looks like they will go for a home brewed stack based on re-inventions handicapped by contributor agreements. And that will take them to make or break. It is a matter of inertia.

Off course there is a possibility that they give up and adapt/adopt to systemd, wayland, git and so on. But that will take extreme sacrifices from Mark Shuttleworth. I doubt he is man enough to write off the money and admit he was wrong. Too much pride.

We all equally guilty of pride. When directed, pride propels us to create useful things for others. This is more than pride - it's hubris, particularly because it was amply demonstrated that Mir offers nothing superior, technologically, to Wayland. Shuttleworth had a change of heart for whatever reason and decided to splinter the freedesktop(.org) effort rather than unify it. Apparently, for Mark, it is much more difficult to negotiate with others than it is to prove a moot point (i.e. Mir).

I am hoping he'll have a change of heart again - that would be the right thing to do, clean up this unnecessary mess he created and go back to good graces with everyone else who is committed to Wayland, which is the last missing piece in the Linux puzzle - an awesome, performant, fast desktop that bridges the past legacy (X) into the future seamlessly. In the absence of a change of heart, he has to see this thing through completion or otherwise risk looking like a fool for giving up on both options - Wayland and eventually Mir, if it doesn't pan out the way they expected it.

What also bothered me is the mild bashing of Wayland, calling it a "repeat of X mistakes"... as if those who created X, are unable to perceive what went "wrong" with a 25+ year old legacy and are unable to create a brand new core, a legacy that will hopefully last for another 10-20 years before it needs another revamp. That is probably a bigger giveaway of his silent regret for abandoning Wayland than anything else he's said on the issue so far.

I'm hoping for a miracle and that somehow the Wayland camp will show magnanimity and forgiveness and are still able to work together in a concerted effort with Canonical. If we must choose sides, let us not forget that Linux is the side both Canonical (i.e. Mir) and Wayland are on, and if you must have a worthy competitor, then put Apple or Microsoft in the crosshair....